The present invention relates to an improvement of a gas curtain apparatus for a fuel exchange pool of a nuclear reactor.
In a nuclear reactor, vapor of mainly such as rare gases with radioactive contamination is generated from the fuel pool during a fuel exchange, and thus there has been caused a serious problem in that an operator who carries out a fuel exchange around the fuel pool or directly does it on a fuel exchange carrier is exposed to radioactive rays. Now that a frequency of the fuel exchange is increased in accordance with a frequent driving of a nuclear reactor, an influence of the exposure on his body becomes non-negligible by repeating the exposure many times, even if one exposure at the periphery of the fuel pool is lower than allowable value. So this provides a serious problem in health care of the operator.
Conventionally, in connection with an apparatus other than the fuel pool of a nuclear reactor, an air curtain means of so called push-pull-duct system which includes blowing-out ports and suction ports therein has been employed for shielding from bad smell, mist or the like in a plating apparatus or an incinerator hopper. However, it has been difficult to form an air curtain through a wide face such as in case of the fuel exchange pool, because air quantity passing through the blowing-out suction ports is much increased, which leads to a great expense for its equipment.